Ukrainian human rights defenders and gay activists are calling to draw international attention to the dismal fate of LGBT citizens in Crimea. They affirm that so many of this group have left Crimea after its inclusion in Russian Federation, and those remaining are full of fear and "stay under" as much as possible.

Units of Ukrainian gay organizations have ceased their work in the peninsula, activists have moved to Kiev or emigrated to other countries. No replacement is coming. That's how Andrey Kravtchuk, one of the leaders of the country's oldest LGBT center "Nash Mir" is describing it.

"A very principal difference between 'the Russian world' and and the European Union is in banning discrimination, including discrimination by sexual orientation and gender identity" - sais Kravtchuk, reminding of the ban on any LGBT events, introduced by the new authorities - "all requests for events supplied by the LGBT agencies were declined. These rejections were later supported by the Moscow courts. All LGBT organizations in the peninsula have by now ceased activity or, so to speak, stay below visibility".

The Ukrainian activists are aiming to draw attention of European politicians and human rights groups to the current state of affairs with the rights of LGBT in Crimea and the territories controlled by Donetsk people's republic and Luhansk people's republic.

The first gay cafe opened in Crimea in 1998, and throughout the 2000s LGBT tourists were eager to visit the region, and Ukrainian and international LGBT organizations held their events for activists in the peninsula, combining leisure and learning. The so called LGBT camps were held here since 2005.

The new Crimea's authorities have been blocking all LGBT events since 2014. In March it was announced that the new constitution of Crimea would specifically forbid same-sex marriages. This has not been implemented, but it was at that time that the authorities applied Mizoulina's law for the first time. June, 2014 brought news of a vicious murder of a foreigner who was gay. The authorities renounced it had been motivated by gay-hate. In July Russia's upper parliament senator for Crimea Olga Kovitidy referred to same-sex unions as "against nature", and in September Sergey Aksenov, Russian politician, the interim head of the republic of Crimea, speaking at the ministry session, was "guaranteeing" that LGBT citizens will "never be able to hold events in Crimea" adding that "we don’t need this kind of people".